Seventh Time's the Charm
by lady-ribbon
Summary: Ivan's brain seemed to be jammed somewhere between 'he's talking to me' and 'what do I say! Nothing says high school romance like asking your crush out for a date. That is of course, if Ivan can work up the courage to do so. Ivan/Yao R/R


**Title – **Seventh time's the charm

**Summary –**Ivan's brain seemed to be jammed somewhere between 'he's talking to me!' and 'what do I say?!'Nothing says High School romance like asking your crush out for a date. That is of course, if Ivan can work up the courage to do so.

_**Update~** Thank you **granted** for translating my story into Chinese!~_**  
**

_Review please ;]_

**Seventh time's the charm**

Ivan nearly hyperventilated as he turned the corner into the school's main corridor, his long scarf flying behind him.

There he was!

Yao Wang's long, chocolate-brown hair was tied neatly back in a ponytail, and it swished down his back as he hurried to his locker, balancing a bunch of fat old books and a battered cardboard box in his arms. Ivan knew Yao had just come back from the Auditorium where he'd been helping out with the drama club since they'd been busy of late, with their newest play. Not that Ivan had been watching him or anything for the last hour or so. In the very back row. His tall frame hunched partly behind the seat so that he wouldn't be asked to leave. _Again. _

...But it wasn't like he was a stalker or anything like his scary sister.

Really.

He breathed out slowly to calm himself, balling his shaking hands into fists. Okay; he could do this.

He searched the corridors, making sure they were alone and that a certain cousin of Yao's was nowhere around to launch a sudden grope attack on his poor unsuspecting relative.

Swallowing, Ivan began walking over to where Yao stood, piling books into his already over-crammed locker. The sound of his boots against the spotless floors echoed in the empty corridor, and Yao turned around to see who was approaching him.

"Hello there aru~! Are you looking for someone?"

Ivan's brain seemed to be jammed somewhere between 'he's talking to me!' and 'what do I say?!' and he was too stunned to believe that he was actually talking to him (finally!)

"Um...Hello aru?"

Yao's dark eyebrows rose up slightly as he watched Ivan, one hand reaching inside the locker. There was a look of faint puzzlement on his face, his mouth slightly opened as if about to ask a question. He turned around fully now, uniform was perfect and as crisp as it was in the morning, covered by a soft looking red coat and a scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. Ivan remembered staring at the back of the slender neck throughout their shared Advanced Calculus class, noticing the way Yao's long hair was pushed to one side, exposing the curve where his shoulder met his neck. He never believed he'd ever work up the courage to talk to him.

Until now.

"Um…"

...And he was still working on that.

"Ehh..." Ivan started, his voice suddenly sounding very high pitched. He could feel his cheeks burning red when Yao looked at him.

"Um…Are you alright aru~?"

"H-hi, Yao hi!" Ivan said, nearly stumbling over his words, rubbing the back of his neck due to embarrassment. He almost cringed when he saw Yao's mouth tremble for a moment as if he wanted to laugh. Giving himself a mental shake, he cleared his throat. _He could_ _do this._

"I-I was wondering if you um…Liked ice-skating?"

Yao tilted his head to the side, unconscious of the effect it was having on Ivan. _Da~ He's so cute!_

"Ice-skating aru~? Yes well, I do like skating, but I don't normally have time to do it. Being a Senior does have its drawbacks." He sighed, as if thinking of the amount of homework he had to do. Ivan nodded, suddenly realizing that Yao was a Senior and would be graduating this year. If he didn't do this now, he might never have another chance. His heart sunk a little at the thought.

"Well, I asked because um, I like skating a lot too!...And I thought you'd like it."

"Yes aru, I do very mu-"

"A-and I was hoping," Ivan said, cutting Yao off mid-sentence," Maybe you'll be free this winter holiday? And m-maybe we could grab a coffee, or tea sometime…?"

He hoped his voice hadn't cracked.

Or sounded desperate. People could _smell _when you were desperate. It was the most effective way of keeping people away. _Date repellent much? _

Startled, Yao's eyes widened for a moment, before continuing what he was saying before Ivan interrupted him.

"-I do very much, and I always go to that café, _The Hot-Pot Shop_ every time I go to the lake. Do you know the place?" He smiled at Ivan, dazzling him.

Ivan had no idea what that was.

"Da~! Of _course_ I do!"

…So he would lie to get what he wanted? …But he was so happy to be talking to Yao, that he didn't notice. If Yao had asked him to jump of the Empire State Building with him, he would of given it no second thought and agreed. He would do anything Yao asked.

…Okay so he was sorta wrapped around Yao's finger, but…Weren't all people with crushes like him?

Truth was, he didn't know where The Hot-Pot Shop was. He'd have to ask Natalia when she'd got home from school. Or sooner. Yes; definitely sooner.

This was highly important.

"I work there on weekends, so I'll be busy…" Yao apologized. He glanced up, and didn't miss the way Ivan's eyes dimmed. Yao knew he should be studying, with exams coming up and all but…"But…I'll be free this coming Saturday." He continued, "So maybe…I'll see you there?"

Was Yao blushing? He seemed very conscious of himself, and was glancing at Ivan shyly from under long lashes.

Oh yes; he was definitely blushing.

Ivan's heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah...I'll be there this Saturday." Ivan said calmly, even though his insides felt like they had turned to jelly. He had a _date_!

And- and _yes – _Yao was smiling at him; a real smile, like he was really pleased to be meeting Ivan there. Ivan wanted to sing, but luckily for them both he didn't.

He had never written out his phone number so fast in his life.

He gave it to Yao, almost melting when he felt Yao's hand touch his lightly before he backed away.

"I'll see you this Saturday at two!" Ivan said happily, calling out as he walked back to the Junior's wing.

This weekend was going to be the _best. _

It was only when Ivan reached his own locker that he realized something. Did Yao even know his name? Did he even know who he _was?!_

"Arghhh!" Ivan groaned, banging his head against his locker, and scaring several innocent freshmen who scrambled away from 'the freakishly tall guy with a big nose' as fast as they could. _Great,_ Ivan thought to himself, ignoring the throbbing lump on his forehead, _he doesn't even know my name…_

"At least I gave him my number." Ivan said to himself, fingering a slip of paper in his messenger bag.

Seeing the paper however, gave him an idea to let Yao know who he was…

He rushed back to Yao's locker, almost skidding in his eagerness.

**~xXx~**

When Yao arrived at school the next morning, he was surprised to see a group of people clustered around his locker. Blinking in confusion as to what could be so interesting about it, he squeezed his way to the front of the cluster, and found himself face to face with his locker.

Apparently he'd had a visitor; and a rather artistic one at that.

Taped to the front of his locker was a piece of paper with a picture on it. It featured a red sleigh being pulled by a couple of stick-figure reindeers. A person was sitting inside the sleigh, colored in with grey-looking hair, purple dot-eyes and (Yao muffled a laugh) a red blob-like nose. The whole party seemed to be flying to a crudely-drawn lump of buildings.

And just to be extra obvious, at the very top of the paper, big red and purple letters spelled out-

I-V-A-N-B-R-A-G-I-N-S-K-I

Squinting closer, Yao saw that the little Ivan in the picture even had on a pair of ice-skates. Or boots. Or boots with super-sharp blades on the bottom.

He'd just have to ask Ivan all about that…

…Later on that weekend.

**~xXx~**

_...I may write a sequel to this if people like it :]_


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